Artless
by anniegirl132
Summary: The two have always been all about their art, in everything that they do. But when something happens on a mission, Deidara may be unable to create his art. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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**So, I'm trying this new idea out, so please tell me if you like it or not. Although I guess it'll probably be like chapter 2 or so before you find out what's going on…. Hope you like it! ^_^**

**Also, my next update will be In the Beginning and then Reunion and then this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

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"Why would leader sama send us _here_ on a scroll retrieval mission un?" Deidara asked in a bored tone.

"I don't know brat, why don't you ask him," Sasori grumbled back from inside Hiruko.

"Like he would tell me…" the blonde mumbled, crossing his arms. He glared forward as the snow continued to fall all around the two. They were heading to a small village on the outskirts of the Land of Lightning, nothing very big. Apparently the village had some important scroll that Pein wanted.

"How far away is the village un?"

"We'll be there around noon tomorrow."

"Ok un."

"Hey-" Deidara began, but whatever he was about to say was cut off as the two suddenly sensed several chakra presences surround them. Stopping, the two artists waited for them to come out.

"They're all ANBU level…" Sasori muttered, taking out two of his puppets while Deidara began to mold clay. Both of them sent forward their attacks as about fifteen ANBU jumped out at them.

After a while only five were left. As one ran towards Deidara, he reached into his clay pouches to make a sculpture; eyes narrowing when he realized he had ran out of clay. Cursing under his breath, he instead pulled out a kunai and blocked the ANBU's attack. He was still fighting the ANBU when one of Sasori's puppets came in and finished him off. It was then that Deidara realized that the puppet master had already defeated all of the other ANBU.

"What was taking you so long brat?"

"I ran out of clay un."

"Then make some more."

"There are no nearby rivers un!"

"I'm sure we'll see one on the way to the village," Sasori said, turning and continuing to walk towards the village. Getting lost in thought, Deidara almost didn't notice when Sasori stopped next to him.

"What un?" he asked, confused.

"There's a river brat, hurry and make your clay so we can get going," he said, rolling his eyes.

Looking to where the puppet master had pointed, his eyes widened in surprise before he scowled.

"Danna un, I cannot use that river," he said, scrunching his nose in disgust.

"Why not brat?"

"Because un, just look at it!" the blonde exclaimed, hoping his partner would understand now.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, getting annoyed.

Sighing Deidara started to explain to his danna why he couldn't use the river. "First off, there's at least a half an inch of ice covering it un. And secondly, I can tell even with the ice, that river is filthy, which is terrible for gathering clay un."

"I guess I can understand your first reasoning," the redhead began, "but what does the river being dirty have to do with anything? Isn't that what clay is, dirt?" Gritting his teeth together in an attempt to not attack his partner, Deidara yet again began to explain.

"No danna, clay is _not_ dirt un. And it makes it harder to gather clay because not only does it make it harder to see the depth of the river, which is very important un, but it also mixes with the clay while I'm gathering it making it terrible quality."

"So? You only need clay temporarily; you can always make _good quality_ clay when we get back to the base."

"Fine un! But how am I supposed to get past the ice?" In answer, Sasori took out an explosive tag and put it on the surface of the ice, creating a large crater. Grumbling under his breath about stupid puppets, Deidara went over to the river and, sticking his hands in, began to gather clay.

. . . . .

The whole process had taken about thirty minutes, but now Deidara had a surplus of clay to use; although no matter how hard he tried it wouldn't turn the pure white color that his clay usually was. _Stupid puppet….._

After somewhat listening while Sasori lectured him on being on time they began to walk towards the village. And, just noticing how cold his hands were, he began to rub them together in an attempt to warm them up. He found it strange that it took him this long to notice considering how long he'd had them in the river.

Once his hands felt at least a little warmer, Deidara dropped them to his sides and uninterestedly glanced at the scenery around him. _Snow…Snow... Hey look! More snow…._ Pulling out some of the dirty clay, he began again to try and get rid of the seemingly permanent brown tinge. After about another hour of trying, he growled in annoyance, throwing the clay back into its pouch. This was such a dull mission; even more so then most scroll retrieval missions. Maybe it was because since this one was farther away there was so much more traveling involved. And traveling with Sasori wasn't exactly all that much fun considering he rarely talked and when he did it was only to yell at his blonde partner or to discuss the mission.

Deidara was glad that they were at least almost to the village; from there all they had to do was complete the mission then start the long trip back home. Easier said than done; fighting would be hard for Deidara with the terrible quality of clay he was going to have to use. As if on cue about seven ANBU jumped out of the trees, blocking their path.

"Halt Akatsuki!" they shouted, pulling out katana.

"Would you mind moving un? We're kind of busy," Deidara smirked, succeeding in annoying the enemy nin.

"Don't mess with us!" one with a red mask shouted, running at them. In response, Deidara threw a clay spider at him, detonating it as Sasori took out a puppet. The blonde narrowed his eyes in annoyance when he noticed his clay hadn't finished the ANBU off, only stunned him. He knew the clay wasn't good quality but he didn't think it was this bad.

Making a higher level bird, he sent it at the large group of ANBU. Half of them were able to dodge the attack but the two that got hit were effectively defeated. Sasori sent forward his puppet, shooting a volley of poison covered senbon at the ANBU, taking out another three. Sasori slashing out with his puppets sword and Deidara with another clay bird were able to take down the last two ANBU. After Sasori put away his puppet, the two set off again towards their destination.

"I told you danna un, this clay is terrible! I had to make much higher level than I should have just to take out a couple of ANBU un!" Deidara ranted to the puppet master walking beside him.

"Shut up brat, it wasn't any worse than usual," he said.

"Hey un! My explosions are true art! Unlike those creepy puppets of yours un," Deidara retorted.

"As usual, you are wrong brat. My puppets are true art, unlike those ugly explosions of yours."

"Art is fleeting un!"

"Fleeting un!"

"Eternal!"

"Fleeting un!"

"Art is eternal brat! When will you realize that!" Sasori shouted.

"I don't need to realize what's not true un!" Deidara yelled back, glaring at his friend in his puppet. Sasori glared back before looking away and ignoring Deidara. Grumbling under his breath, Deidara also looked away.

. . . . .

"We'll complete the mission tonight brat," Sasori said when they reached the village.

"Until then just go look around or something, we'll meet back here be sunset."

"Whatever un," Deidara said walking off. Deidara was irritated still. It wasn't just their argument about art, they had those all of the time, his aggravation was more about the stupid bad quality clay he was forced to use. In fact, ever since that fight his palm mouths had been acting weird. _They're probably also disgusted by it's bad quality._ Deidara thought sighing. He didn't know why Sasori had forced him to get clay from that river; there were probably plenty of other rivers somewhere nearby. And even after he had told him about their bad quality the puppet master had still made him use the clay.

He was definitely not looking forward to having to having to do this mission with that stupid clay, he wasn't even looking forward to the mission when he had good clay. Oh well, it's not like anyone ever cared what he thought….

. . . . .

"Brat I thought I told you to take care of those shinobi!" Sasori growled, attacking said ninja with his puppets.

"I was trying to un!" Deidara shouted, already annoyed by the weakness of his usually powerful art.

"Whatever, just try to get that group over there while I grab the scroll."

Scowling at him, Deidara let his mouths eat the clay and begin to form some of his higher level explosives. It was a small group, one he could usually defeat with a few clay spiders, but he now had to resort to using some clay birds.

Tossing them at the shinobi, he formed the hand seal. The blonde frowned at the weakness of it, but at least this time his art had served its purpose.

"Come on brat!" Sasori shouted, stuffing the scroll into his pocket.

"Okay un," he said, throwing out a clay bird that he had made earlier and enlarging it. The two artists jumped onto it before it bust a hole in the roof and taking off into the night sky.

. . . . .

"Control your bird brat!' Sasori growled at him as the bird dropped two feet in the air before going back to its original height.

"I can't un, it's because of that clay you made me use," Deidara said. He would have commented on how Hiruko's weight made it about five times heavier for him to fly but decided he didn't' really want the puppet master yelling at him right now.

"Whatever brat, if you can't control this thing then let me off," Sasori growled.

"Fine un," Deidara said, steering his bird towards the ground and letting the redhead get off before flying back into the sky. It was slightly easier to fly now that it was only him on the bird but still more difficult than usual. Deidara looked down at his hand mouth as he flew up higher into the sky.

"I know the clay is terrible," He said, rolling his eyes as the mouth stuck its tongue out at him. Sighing, he dropped it back to his side and sat down on his bird.

"Hopefully I'll be able to stop and get better clay soon un," Deidara muttered to himself.

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**Like? Love? Hate? Please review and tell me what you think so far. Thanks for reading! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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**Okay, so here is chapter 2! You'll find out what is going on in this chapter. And yes, like in the last chapter Dei will probably continue to talk to his hand mouths… XD**

**Also, I've noticed that in a lot of my other stories the characters are sometimes OOC, so please tell me if they are that way in this one and I'll fix it.**

**And thank you to Asheza, Long Live Yugioh 5ds, and WinterSpirit13 for reviewing the first chapter, I really appreciate it! ^_^**

**Finally, Thanksgiving break is finally here so now I have some free time to write! It gave me a chance finish this and at least get a little work done on some of my other stories too.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter! :)**

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Deidara was annoyed there still hadn't been any areas to get clay from. He was sure he had seen some on the way to that village but now on the way back to the base he couldn't seem to find any. And not only that, but his bird kept getting harder and harder to fly, and he didn't want to have to land. The blonde found it so boring to just silently walk next to his emotionless partner. Lifting his hand up again, Deidara sighed.

"You don't mind using the clay a little longer, right un?" he asked it. The mouth just snarled at him.

"Tch, fine, be that way un, I'll just talk to lefty instead," the blond muttered, dropping his right hand and raising the left one in front of his face. His hands couldn't exactly talk back when he spoke to them, but they did seem to understand what he was saying and would make some kind of sound in response. He usually never talked to them in the presence of others because they'd think him crazy- crazier than they already knew he was.

"What about you un? You don't mind using this clay a little longer, right?" he asked. His left hand only frowned at him in response.

"Well whatever you two, there isn't really much of a choice un," he said, dropping his left hand back down to his side. So far he still hadn't seen anywhere to stop and find more clay and had a feeling that it would be a while before he did. But that was definitely becoming a problem as he realized his bird becoming almost impossible to fly. He tried to hold it together but eventually it seemed as though it was about to just drop out of the sky so he had to land it.

"Why did you land, I thought you like flying around on that contraption?" Sasori asked as he began to walk next to him.

"That stupid clay was making it almost impossible to fly un," Deidara muttered.

"You've been complaining about that clay ever since you got it and you're really beginning to get on my nerves. It can't be that bad," Sasori said, scowling at his blonde partner.

"You wouldn't know! You're not the one who has to deal with it un!" he retorted angrily.

"Watch your mouth brat," Sasori growled, giving his younger partner a warning glare. Deidara glared back at him but kept his mouth shut. 

_Funny how almost all of our conversations seem to turn into arguments…_ he thought, staring off into space. He just wanted to leave this bleak and barren landscape behind and be done with this mission.

"Hey danna, when will we reach the base un?" he asked.

"In about five days," he answered. At that Deidara groaned silently. He was hoping to get there sooner because of the rivers that he knew were nearby, but no he'd have to deal with this horrible clay for a whole five more days. He began to grumble under his breath out of frustration until he heard a strange sound. It sounded almost like coughing but at the same time very different.

Sasori looked over at him in irritation, thinking that it was him making the noise.

"Not me un," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Well then what is it brat, there aren't any other chakra presences in the vicinity," Sasori said.

"I don't know un," Deidara answered. But in truth he did know what it was, he was just sincerely hoping that he was wrong. He glanced down at the mouth on his hand and almost groaned out loud in aggravation when he saw that it was the thing making the noise. He clenched his fist, effectively muffling the sound.

"Hey danna, I'm going to look around the area and see if I can find out what that sound was un," he said, taking out the bird from earlier and enlarging it.

"I thought you said it couldn't fly properly," the puppet master answered skeptically.

"I can control it for at least the time it will take me to do this un," the blonde answered before jumping onto the bird and taking off into the sky.

Once he was up high enough to where Sasori wouldn't be able to see him he sighed and sat down. He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages. He had always wondered why he kept them considering he almost never used them but was grateful he had them at the moment. Deidara wrapped both of his hands in the bandages up to his wrists before putting them away and standing up. As he flew his bird down to land next to Sasori he silently hoped for him not to notice that he covered up his hands.

"Did you see anything brat?" Sasori asked, briefly glancing over at him.

"No un," he answered, after shrinking his bird and putting it back into his pocket. After running to catch up to Sasori the two walked on through the snow in silence, with only the sound of nature in the background.

Deidara was angry that his hand mouths had managed to get sick, especially since he knew it had something to do with this horrible clay. But the frozen lake probably had something to do with this whole ordeal as well. He just hoped he would be able to keep Sasori from finding out before they healed. Because not only would it be embarrassing, but he really didn't want to have to explain how his hands got sick in the first place.

It had only happened once before, but that was back before he joined Akatsuki. Back when he didn't have to answer to anyone, when he was free…

_-Flashback-_

_Deidara leaned against a tree, panting heavily and glancing behind him. Hearing people shouting, he pushed away from the tree and continued to run like he had been for the past two hours. It had only been a few months since he had left his village and they had already found him again. _

_He glared down at his bandaged hands as he sped through the trees. The blonde didn't know how, but his palm mouths had gotten sick. Whenever he would try to feed them clay they would just spit it back as a goopy liquid. Then when he actually did manage to get them to mold the clay correctly none of his creations would come to life or explode. _

_He stopped briefly to set up some explosive tags on the nearby trees before running off again. Once far enough away, he made the hand seal to detonate the tags. He waited, sensing for chakra signature, sighing in relief when there were none. Finally, he had almost gotten captured that time…._

_-flashback end-_

He remembered that back then it had taken almost a month for his hands to heal completely. But right now he couldn't afford to wait that long; he would need to find a way to cure them quicker. And while a part of his brain told him to just ask Sasori for help, his pride wouldn't let him so he began to think about possible solutions on his own.

Deidara didn't really have much medical experience so he wasn't sure what would work for a normal illness, let alone the one his hands seemed to have contracted. He sighed silently in frustration and brought his left hand up in front of his face and halfway took off the bandages to try and examine it. The blonde briefly glanced up at Sasori to make sure he wasn't paying attention before slowing his pace so he was further behind him.

The only way he could think to see what was wrong with his hand was to ask it, even if it couldn't say words. But he didn't want his danna hearing.

"So, are you in pain un?" he whispered to it. In response it gave him a small frown. That was one thing he had learned about how his palm mouths communicated. Usually a frown indicated a 'no' and a smile meant 'yes'.

"Well do you feel nauseous un?" he asked quietly. This time it smiled slightly.

"Please don't tell me you're gonna puke all over me un," he muttered quietly.

"Brat, who're you talking to?" Sasori asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing un!" he answered, quickly dropping his hand to his side.

"Okay…" Sasori said, giving the blonde a strange look before turning back around. _That's just great, now danna thinks I'm crazy- well, crazier than usual… I guess I should be more careful when talking to my hands, _Deidara thought to himself. Sighing, he quickly wrapped up his hand again and ran to catch up with his danna.

"Why are your hands bandaged up brat?" Sasori asked him. Deidara was mentally cursing as he tried to come up with a believable excuse.

"Uhhh… No reason un," he answered.

"Are you sure?" Sasori asked, obviously not believing the blonde.

"Yes," Deidara answered back.

"If you say so brat," Sasori said.

Even though he had dropped it for now, Deidara knew that Sasori would probably ask him about it later, and continue to question him until he found out what Deidara was hiding. So Deidara took advantage of the silence as they walked along to try and think of a more believable excuse to tell Sasori later. He briefly wondered if it would just be easier to tell Sasori what was really going on but decided against it. If anything, Deidara felt that Sasori would just think he was being a brat again for letting this happen to himself. And he knew that the puppet master probably wouldn't listen if he reminded him that it was him who had caused this issue in the first place. Otherwise the blonde wouldn't have gotten clay from a lake that was frozen over by ice because he already had known that the clay there wouldn't be very good.

_Oh well, I guess I'll think of something…_ he mused.

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**So, like? Love? Hate? Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter.**

**Thanks for reading! ^_^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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**Finally, here's chapter 3! I know it's a bit late, I've just had a lot of writer's block recently…**

**Thank you soooo much to coolseal9, Asheza, Blackwing Fray the Huntress, Kakashi Attacke, and Midnight's Shining Star for reviewing Chapter 2; I really appreciate all of your reviews a lot! ^_^**

**. . . . .**

_Dang it, I can't think of anything! _Deidara thought frantically as he glanced ahead at Sasori walking in front of him. He had been trying to think of an excuse for having his hands bandaged for hours not but nothing had come to him yet. _Then again, he wouldn't ask if I just unwrapped them, _he thought. Quietly, he pulled off the bandages and stuffed them into the pouch where he carried his non-clay weapons.

"Listen you two; Sasori-no-danna will get suspicious if I have you bandaged. But you _need _to stay quiet until I can try and fix your sickness, okay?" he whispered to his hands as quietly as possible. They both gave him a weak smile signaling that they'd try. _Now all I have to do is find some cure for this weird sickness, _he thought. The blonde began to think back on the few times when he had gotten sick, and what his danna had done to help him. But he soon realized that, more than likely, none of that would work on hands.

"Why does this have to be so difficult un," he groaned quietly.

"What's difficult brat?" Sasori asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"Ah, it's nothing un," he answered, holding up his hands and giving a fake grin. It was then that his hands decided it was time to start coughing- more like hacking. Sasori stared at them with slightly widened eyes.

"I thought I told you to stay quiet!" Deidara hissed at them then paused when he remembered Sasori.

"Are you okay?" the redhead asked slowly.

"I'm fine," Deidara said, widening his fake grin, quickly brining his hands behind his back and clenching his fists to muffle the noise.

"I doubt that, now let me see them," Sasori sighed, walking up to his partner. Deidara looked down slightly and showed him his hands.

"Do you know what's wrong with them?" he asked while examining the mouths as they drooled a slimy yellow liquid.

"Yeah… They're sick un…." He muttered. There was no point in lying since his danna was already suspicious, and his hands practically gave it away by now. _Stupid handmouths…._

"Your handmouths can get sick?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Deidara muttered, blushing slightly and lowered his hands. He knew Sasori would be creeped out about his handmouths sickness; most people were creeped out just because they even existed in the first place.

"Has this happened before?" the redhead asked after a while.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to fix them un," he answered.

"Why not just try what works for a normal cold?"

"I don't think that'd work on a kekkei genkai un."

"Well, we won't know until we try. But for now just bandage them up again," Sasori stated, looking slightly grossed out as more drool dripped from the mouths.

"Okay un," Deidara said, doing as told, glaring at his hands the whole time. It was then that a group of ANBU decided to oh so conveniently come out. After panicking briefly due to his hand issues, he pulled out a kunai. Sasori, already having taken out five puppets, started attacking the group. Deidara tried to also attack but was soon cornered by three of the shinobi. He slashed at one but was kicked in the side by one of the others. As the ANBU swung a sword at him, he blocked with his kunai then swept his feet out from under him before also stabbing that ANBU. The blonde looked around for the last one but was relieved to see that his danna had taken care of the rest.

"Come on brat, let's hurry and get back to the base," Sasori sighed, already starting to walk off.

"Okay," Deidara answered, following after him

. . . .

"Finally, we're back," Deidara sighed, falling back on his bed.

"Now we can fix your hands, wait here while I go make some soup," Sasori said.

"But-"Deidara was cut off as the door closed behind the redhead.

He went into the kitchen, opened up a can and put it on the stove to cook. The puppet master did find it a bit strange that his partner's kekkei genkai had somehow gotten sick, even more so that this incident had happened before. But despite the fact that they weren't normal mouths, he figured that if they got sick, then they could also be cured the same way as a cold normally was. He glanced over to see the soup was done so he poured it in a bowl and grabbed a spoon. _The brat better appreciate me helping him, _Sasori thought as he trudged back to their room.

"Why did you make such a mess?" Sasori growled as he entered the room that was now filled with tissues.

"They wouldn't stop drooling un," Deidara whined.

"Whatever, just give them this," Sasori said, trying to hand him the bowl.

"Danna, I can't."

"And why not?" Sasori asked, scowling slightly.

"Because un, first off, I can't hold the bowl with all their drooling. And second, my kekkei genkai can't eat," Deidara explained.

"Don't those mouths eat clay?"

"No Sasori danna," the blonde sighed in exasperation, "They only chew the clay, not eat it."

"Brat, I went through the trouble of making this, they _are _going to eat it," Sasori growled, walking up to his partner.

"But danna-"

"They _will_ eat it," Sasori said, grabbing the wrist of his right hand and shoving a spoonful of soup into it. The mouth spit it all back in his face, barring its teeth at the redhead. He growled in anger as the liquid dripped down his face, grabbing his partner's wrist as if trying to strangle the handmouth.

"Sasori-no-danna stop! Righty is just a little moody un," Deidara said trying to pull his hand away.

"What?" Sasori asked, releasing the blonde's wrist. "Your hands have names?"

"Well sort of un," he said, blushing slightly.

"Whatever, they are still going to eat the soup," he said already taking another spoonful.

"Danna, I told you un, they. Can't. Eat," the blonde growled, glaring slightly.

"They _will,_" Sasori repeated and shoved the spoon in his left handmouth this time. It reacted the same as his right hand.

"Told you so…" Deidara muttered. His partner was on the verge of punching the blonde but decided to instead, go and wash the soup off of his face.

"I did warn him," Deidara muttered to his hands, which smirked at him. The blonde then sighed tiredly and began glaring at his hands.

"You guys are terrible, you know that? Danna is probably completely creeped out," he muttered. His left hand gave a weak smile while his right hand chose to stick its tongue out at him.

"Quit being so moody righty, it's getting annoying," he growled. The hand spit on him.

"Why you!" as Deidara began to argue Sasori walked through the door but paused then quickly walked away. _We really need to fix this before he goes completely insane, _the redhead thought as he walked away.

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**So, what'd you think, good or bad? Please review and tell me what you think, constructive criticism is welcome! ^_^**

**Also, there will be about one more chapter after this one.**

**Hope you liked it, thanks for reading!**


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